Sonos already shot itself in the foot with its Apple TV competitor

Summary

Sonos is planning to release a streaming box priced between $200 to $400.
Pricing of Sonos streaming box makes it a hard sell, especially compared to competitors.
Sonos streamer will integrate well with Sonos ecosystem despite high cost repercussions.

The Apple TV 4K is already one of the most expensive streaming boxes on the market, and although it’s my favorite device, that’s the area that stops me from giving it a complete recommendation. When it’s on sale, as rare as that is, it’s a no-brainer to pick up. It’s the only Apple product I own, and while it’d work a lot better if I had more, I can confirm it’s just fine as a standalone device.

With streaming services constantly raising prices, consumers are starting to feel the squeeze in many areas where the Apple TV shines. The main draw of the Apple TV is to have a dedicated home for all your apps, and if you unsubscribe from everything, the box loses its value. That’s why Sonos’ decision to come into the game in 2025 doesn’t make a lot of sense — especially at the price the company reportedly plans to target.

Apple TV 4K (2022)

Brand: Apple
Bluetooth codecs: 5.0
Wi-Fi: 6
Ethernet: Gigabit (128GB model only)
Storage and RAM: 64GB, 128GB

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Sonos is making a strange decision

A very bizarre price

A black Sonos Ray sound bar under a white television.

According to The Verge, Sonos plans on releasing a streaming box, which sounds fine on the surface, but the price the company is targeting is between $200 and $400. It goes without saying that this isn’t an appealing price for the average person. Even for the enthusiast, it’s hard to imagine somebody forking over this much cash for a device that does what other products already do for far cheaper.

The box is described as a black square about the size of a deck of cards, so it sounds like it’ll be of similar build to the Apple TV 4K. While it being a dedicated streamer is going to be a big driver of sales, the price indicates it’ll be capable of more than that.

The Verge reports you can plug multiple devices into the box, such as a gaming console or Blu-ray player, so it sounds like it acts as a receiver of sorts. For a device that wears many hats, it sounds like a good point of entry for somebody getting into the home theater world.

For people who have already bought a receiver or have a similar setup, it’s a tough sell, but it might not be for those people in the first place. Even if you’re a newcomer to the tech world as a whole, spending $400 isn’t something the average person is willing to do. When you couple that with the fact that a Google Streamer or even a Roku stick can be had for far cheaper. What it does bring to the table is Sonos compatibility, but that’s an expensive commitment too.

Sonos CEO Patrick Spence in a YouTube video about new commitments from Sonos

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The statement includes seven commitments, ranging from somewhat vague to very vague.

The Sonos streamer benefits from the Sonos ecosystem

Not a big surprise here, but it’s expensive

It shouldn’t come as a huge shock that a company designs its products to work best with its other products. The Verge’s report says this box will let you create a surround sound setup that communicates wirelessly with other Sonos products. This is great news for people who bought into the ecosystem, but it doesn’t mean a lot for people on the outside looking in.

The Sonos Beam soundbar costs $500 on its own, which is very pricey for a soundbar. The price continues to rise as you add additional speakers, so it’s an entire system that easily costs consumers over $1,000. I don’t know about you, but that effectively prices most people out.

As somebody who already owns a 5.1.2 system, I don’t see much of a reason to jump on board with Sonos here. I don’t doubt Sonos has a good ecosystem, but with it being so expensive, I can’t see how it gains a clear foothold or how it could convince me to buy new products.

The Sonos Ace now supports TV audio swap with Ray and Beam soundbars

The software update also expands audio swap support with the Arc to Android devices.

I don’t see how this can work

I’ll stay optimistic

iPhone and Apple TV — Pocket-lint / Apple

Pocket-lint / Apple

It’s really difficult to envision this streaming box gaining a foothold at $200, let alone $400. I’m hoping to be wrong because competition is good for everybody, and if this is what it takes for Apple to step up and come out with another streaming box, then it is what it is.

While Apple has the best streaming box, in my opinion, it can still be pushed to greater limits. I want to see Apple Intelligence added to a future iteration, and perhaps a high-end competitor from Sonos is what gets us there. A lot of this will obviously come down to whether or not Sonos box is good. With Sonos being as big of a company as it is, this might be an unfounded fear, but I’ve seen companies pull the plug on underperforming products in the past.

Even if it is a feature-rich box, the price is going to be the big thing that holds it back. It’s nice to have those extra HDMI ports to act as a central hub, but the reality is most people don’t need anything of the sort. I assume most people are buying boxes like this for convenience and not necessarily for the ability to add surround sound or connect gaming consoles.

Admittedly, these are cool features to have, but a more affordable price would make it way more appealing to the average person. Luckily, this price isn’t set in stone, but if it’s really going to do as much as this report suggests, a high price tag would almost be essential. What this has me worried about down the line is a more expensive Apple TV 4K.

Adding more features to the already expensive Apple TV 4K would mean the price has to increase, and I don’t want that to happen. At $150 for the highest end model, it’s already a tough buy, especially if you want to have more than one in your home. In a perfect world, I want to see cheaper options come out, like an Apple streaming stick, so Sonos’ box is moving in a completely different direction.

I might be getting too far ahead of myself considering the box hasn’t been officially announced yet. The major hangup I have is the price, and if that gets tweaked, then I think Apple has a real competitor at the high-end. If it’s closer to $400 than $200, then I don’t get the point of what Sonos is doing here.